A 28-year-old entrepreneur in Lagos has alleged that her pastor targeted her after noticing her large tithes, exploited her finances, and sexually abused her. Oluremi Sokoya (not her real name) told Saturday PUNCH that she spent almost ₦500,000 on the pastor and his family while struggling to buy a shoe for her father. The pastor allegedly took control of her finances and inappropriately touched her on several occasions.
How the Pastor First Noticed Her Giving
Sokoya joined a Pentecostal church in Ikorodu, Lagos, in January 2022, expecting a place to worship and grow in her faith. Instead, her generosity made her stand out to the pastor, who was in his late 40s. According to the investigative report, he first noticed her because of the size of her tithes and offerings.
“He called me one service and said he noticed I gave well to the Lord and encouraged me to continue, saying that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That was when it began,” she told PUNCH. The pastor began checking on her whenever she missed church due to work and would visit her home because she lived close to the church.
Financial Exploitation and Control
Their relationship shifted towards money and church projects. “From there, he started talking about church projects I could help with and testimonies of how God blessed someone after giving sacrificially. I started to contribute to these projects. If I didn’t, he would call my name at the altar and say I must drop some money,” she recounted.
Sokoya alleged that the pastor gained complete control over her finances. She bought groceries, expensive clothes, and shoes for him and his family, and he would sometimes take her debit card to make purchases. “This bald man who calls himself a pastor, whom I can never in my life respect, began to take advantage of my kindness. I was buying things for him and his family. I bought them groceries, expensive clothing and shoes. This pastor had complete control over my finances,” she said.
She reached a point where she was spending money on the pastor that she could not spare for her own family. “At that time, I couldn’t even take my money to buy a new shoe for my father, but I would be buying clothes for this man. I won’t lie to you, I spent almost half a million on this man within months,” she told PUNCH.
Alleged Sexual Abuse and Escape
According to her account, the exploitation was not limited to money. Sokoya alleged that the pastor inappropriately touched her and attempted to sexually abuse her on several occasions. She recalled an incident where the pastor asked her to bring food to his church office. When she asked what he wanted to eat, he replied that he wanted bread and egg, but also wanted to “eat” her. She initially dismissed it as a joke because the pastor often joked with her.
However, when she arrived at his office with the food, he shut the door and windows, switched on his phone’s torch because the room was dark, held her, and began touching her breasts. “I had to lie that my father needed me urgently to escape his grip,” she told PUNCH. Sokoya later discovered that the pastor was allegedly involved with other women, prompting her to leave the church in June 2023.
The matter was reported to the police in May 2023, and about ₦400,000 was eventually refunded to Sokoya in instalments. PUNCH did not report a conviction against the pastor in connection with her allegations.
Wider Investigation into Religious Exploitation
Sokoya’s account formed part of a wider investigation by Saturday PUNCH into Nigerians who allegedly lost money while seeking financial, health, or personal solutions through religious figures. The investigation found that the alleged exploitation cuts across religious lines, with cases involving both Christian and Muslim clerics.
One Christian case involved a man identified as Uwakwe, who sought the help of a self-acclaimed prophet to bring his brother, who left Nigeria in 1997, back to the country. Uwakwe said he was persuaded to pay ₦6.2m for spiritual work.
The investigation also examined the activities of a self-acclaimed prophet, Cheya, in Enugu. Members alleged that Cheya sold spiritual and material “prosperity products”, including “miracle stickers”, “spiritual dragons”, and “Holy Ghost thunder”. In July, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission secured Cheya’s conviction after he pleaded guilty to obtaining ₦136m from church members under false pretences between 2023 and February 2025. The court sentenced him to one year in prison with an option of a ₦500,000 fine and ordered the forfeiture of his landed property, with proceeds used as restitution for victims.
The investigation also documented cases involving Islamic clerics. Police arraigned two self-proclaimed Islamic clerics, Saheed Aremu and Tolani Osuolale, over the alleged defrauding of a medical doctor, Patrick Akaraiwe, of ₦280m. The police alleged that the defendants convinced Akaraiwe that his money needed spiritual fortification before he could invest in property. They allegedly collected $200,000, said to be about ₦270m at the time, in three instalments. They were arraigned on charges including advance fee fraud, obtaining by false pretences, impersonation, conspiracy, and stealing. The case remained before the court at the time covered by the investigation.
Another case involved a 55-year-old Islamic cleric, Olaide Ajala, charged before an Ibadan magistrate’s court over alleged ₦7.6m fraud. The prosecution alleged that Ajala and others obtained ₦7m from a man under the pretence of conducting prayers to solve his business problems. Ajala pleaded not guilty and was granted bail.
EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede told PUNCH that religious institutions are not immune from fraudulent practices. “I have a lot of them (religious leaders) in my holding facility as I’m talking to you. I have a lot of them that are convicted for fraudulent practices,” he said, stressing that wrongdoing was a reflection of individual morals rather than religious affiliation. Olukoyede said both Christian and Muslim institutions could be susceptible to corruption, noting that some pastors, bishops, and imams had faced prosecution and conviction.
For Sokoya, the issue remains deeply personal. What began with a pastor noticing that she “gave well to the Lord” ended, according to her account, with her losing control of her finances, spending almost half a million naira on the pastor and his family, and alleging that he sexually abused her. Her story is one of several cases examined by Saturday PUNCH in its investigation into the financial exploitation of people seeking help through religious channels.
